Folded belt package for hospital gowns

ABSTRACT

A folded belt package for disposable hospital gowns, in which the belt is maintained in a compact condition until the gown has been put on and the user is ready to use the belt.

United States Patent Inventor Thomas H. Planner Appleton, Wis.

Appl. No. 788,377

Filed Jan. 2, 1969 Patented July 27, I971 Assignee Kimberly-Clark Corporation Neenah, Wis.

FOLDED BELT PACKAGE FOR HOSPITAL GOWNS 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

u.s. c1 2/1 14, 206/46 1111. c1 A4lb 9 00 Field'ot Search 2/300, 338, 69.5, 93, 1 14, 154, 156, DIG. 7; 223 2s 35, 46; 206/7 M, 46 AP References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,052,937 9/1962 Caparosa 2/154 X 3,218,649 1 1/1965 Ricter 2/114 1,895,758 1/1933 Goldsmith 223/46 X 2,019,248 10/1935 Blumgardt 2/93 2,905,368 9/1959 Runyan 223/46 Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson Assistant Examiner-G. V. LarKin Attorney-Wolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, Voit and Osann ABSTRACT: A folded belt package for disposable hospital gowns, in which the belt is maintained in a compact condition until the gown has been put on and the user is ready to use the belt.

FOLDED BELT PACKAGE FOR HOSPITAL GOWNS DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to gowns which are particularly adapted for use in hospitals, sick rooms or diagnostic facilities, and more particularly to an improved belt package for such gowns.

Many of the gowns used today in hospitals and the like are manufactured from cellulosic material and folded into a flat compact package to facilitate shipping and storage.

A belt is normally furnished with the gown, and the belt is either attached to the gown at some point around the waistline, or left unattached and separately packaged with the gown. The belt is a source of problems both during the folding and packaging of the gown, due to the difficulty of handling and controlling long, loose ends of the belt, and during the unpackaging and use thereof. When the gown is unpacked to be put on, if unattached the belt may be dropped; if attached, the long loose ends of the belt may drag on the floor. Any contamination of the belt is, of course, especially undesirable in the case of sterile hospital gowns.

It is, accordingly, a main object of this invention to provide a folded belt package for disposable gowns and the like which may be attached to the gown to maintain the belt in a compact condition until the gown has been put on and the wearer is ready to tie the belt.

Another object is to provide a folded belt package for disposable gowns and the like in which the belt may be attached at any desired position on the gown.

An additional object is to provide a folded package which when attached to a gown presents the belt so that it may be readily pulled from the package and tied by the wearer. Another object is to provide a belt package which may be handled and stored without the belt unfolding and becoming disarranged.

Other objects and advantages ofthe invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in whichz FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a folded belt wrapped in a band to form the belt package.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a belt at the folding and packaging operation.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a belt after it has been partially folded.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the folded belt and band fixed to a layer of gown material taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 5, the thickness of the belt and folds being exaggerated for clarity.

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of a hospital gown or similar robe having a folded belt package attached to the rear of the gown, and

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of a model wearing a hospital gown with the belt unfolded and tied.

While the invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that I do not intend to limit the invention to the embodiment. On the contrary, I intend to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Turning to FIG. 1, a folded belt package made in accordance with the invention is shown. The package'consists of a belt 10, made preferably of a strip of cellulosic sheet material which has been folded in a multiplicity of courses to a fraction of its original length, and a tubular band 11 wrapped snugly around the folded belt 10.

It is an important feature of the invention that the ends 14 and 15 of the belt may be easily grasped by the gown wearer when the belt package is attached to the gown. To accomplish this, the belt is preferably folded so that the belt ends 14 and are free and extend in opposite directions to project through the openings at the ends of the tubular band 11. The package may be attached to a hospital gown 17 (FIG. 5) by start of the means herein shown as adhesive 19 fastening the band II to the gown (FIG. 4), with the result that both free ends 14 and 15 are adapted to be pulled to unfold the belt while leaving the fully unfolded belt still passing through the band.

To produce the package shown in FIG. I, in accordance with the invention the belt 10 and band 11 are initially arranged as shown in FIG. 2. The belt 10- is first folded over upon itself at its midpoint 21, thus creating two halves 22 and 23 of equal lengths, one of the halves 22 lying congruently atop the other half 23.

To provide a compactly folded belt, the congruent belt halves 22 and 23 are folded together with successive reversing folds, as best seen in FIG. 3. Completion of the belt folding is best seen in FIG. 1. One end 14 of the belt 10 is allowed to run straight out from the folds; the other end is given one last reversing fold 24 so that the end 15 extends away from the folds in a direction opposite to that of the first end 14. In the illustrated sequence the belt folding operations may be performed by hand; however, commercially available folding machines may be utilized to perform these operations.

To complete the belt package, the ends 25 and 26 of the band ll are wrapped snugly about the courses of the belt and fastened together, preferably by adhesive 27, so as to form the band II into a tubular loop as illustratedin FIG. 4.

In the preferred method, it will be noted, theband I1 is not fixed to the belt 10. Alternatively, the belt 10 may be bonded to the band 11 by means herein shown as adhesive 28, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 4.

To maximize ease of donning by the gown wearer and ease of gown packaging by the gown maker, the packaged belts are attached at any desired position on the gown as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. If the gown is of the back-opening type, such as a surgical gown, the band 11 may be attached preferably by adhesive to the center of the front panel of the gown body. If the gown is of the front-opening type, the belt package may be conveniently attached at the center of the gown back as illustrated in FIG. 5. While the attachment should be near the wearers waist level, the specific attachment point can be adjusted to move the package belt out of the way of folds of the gown. When the gown is folded for shipping, a neater appearing package is thus presented.

After the assembled gown l7 and belt 10 are donned by the user, he then grasps the ends of the belt 14 and 15 and wraps it about himself, as shown in FIG. 6. Previously, an assistant has been required to keep the sterile belt away from unsterile objects and floors; with thepackaged belt of this invention, such assistance is not required. The band 11 new acts as a belt loop, supporting the beltat the midpoint when the belt is being drawn out and used. The looped band 11 further loosely attaches the belt to the gown 17 to keep out of the way and out of most dirt when the gown is not in use.

It will be observed that with the belt 10 folded in the preferred manner previously described, and shown in FIG. 1, both belt ends 14 and 15 are positioned on the same side of the package. When the package is made with the belt folded in this fashion, the other side of the package maybe attached to a hospital gown I7 (FIG. 5) so that'the folds are on the inside and the belt ends l4, 15 are on the outside and accessible to be grasped by the user. It is contemplated, however, that the belt may be folded in a multiplicity of courses with the belt ends on the opposite sides of the package and extending in opposite directions to project through the openings in the tubular band. When so folded, the center of the belt will be buried in the center of the package between folds and not'fixed to the band.

I claim as my invention:

1. An article of manufacture comprising the combination of a. a gown,

b. a gown belt folded to a fraction of its original length with both ends extending in opposite directions, and

c. a band forming a tubular loop around successive courses of the folded belt, said ends of said belt being free and extending in opposite directions towards the openings at the ends of said tubular band, the free ends of said belt being adapted to be pulled from both openings of said band to unfold the belt while leaving the fully unfolded belt still passing through the band, the band being attached to the gown. 2. An article according to claim 1 in which the belt and band are both made of nonwoven cellulosic sheet material.

3. A method of manufacturing packaged belts and attaching same to gowns, including the steps of a. cutting a belt from cellulosic nonwoven material, b. cutting a band from cellulosic nonwoven material, c. folding the belt in half across its width, so as to double the belt upon itself, d. folding the doubled belt with successive reversing folds,

0. making one more reversing fold in one end of the belt than in the other, frplacing the band about the belt so as to leave the belt ends free of the band and extending in mutually opposite directions, and g. attaching the band to a hospital gown substantially at the waist level of the gown. 4. An article according to claim 1 in which the belt is also attached to the band.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the band is placed about the belt by wrapping it around to form a tubular loop and thereafter fastening the band together.

UNETED STATES FATE OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORREC'MON 3, 594, 818 Dated July 27, 1971 Patent No.

Invent r( Thomas H. Planner It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Claim 5, line 1, change "4" to --3--.

Signed and sealed this 22nd day of August 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. An article of manufacture comprising the combination of a. a gown, b. a gown belt folded to a fraction of its original length with both ends extending in opposite directions, and c. a band forming a tubular loop around successive courses of the folded belt, said ends of said belt being free and extending in opposite directions towards the openings at the ends of said tubular band, the free ends of said belt being adapted to be pulled from both openings of said band to unfold the belt while leaving the fully unfolded belt still passing through the band, the band being attached to the gown.
 2. An article according to claim 1 in which the belt and band are both made of nonwoven cellulosic sheet material.
 3. A method of manufacturing packaged belts and attaching same to gowns, including the steps of a. cutting a belt from cellulosic nonwoven material, b. cutting a band from cellulosic nonwoven material, c. folding the belt in half across its width, so as to double the belt upon itself, d. folding the doubled belt with successive reversing folds, e. making one more reversing fold in one end of the belt than in the other, f. placing the band about the belt so as to leave the belt ends free of the band and extending in mutually opposite directions, and g. attaching the band to a hospital gown substantially at the waist level of the gown.
 4. An article according to claim 1 in which the belt is also attached to the band.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the band is placed about the belt by wrapping it around to form a tubular loop and thereafter fastening the band together. 